Save At Boxed (Think Costco As An App) With Amex Offers

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My family buys a lot of our staples at Costco, as well as some of our groceries. With a family of five, buying in bulk works well for us these days. I also think the prices are consistently pretty good, even if they aren’t the absolute lowest. So I was naturally a bit intrigued when I heard about Boxed.com.

Boxed is basically a wholesale club — think Costco, Sams, or BJ’s — that delivers to your home, and without a membership fee.

According to this CNBC article, they are getting good traction in cities and rural areas, two markets that are poorly served by wholesale clubs. Not surprisingly they are also popular with the millennial crowd, who think that everything in life should be done on an app, such that 80% of their customers are between the ages of 25 and 44. Interestingly, their founder, Chieh Huang, comes from a gaming background, having sold his startup to Zynga in 2011.

My experience with Boxed

Despite being founded in 2013, I hadn’t heard of Boxed until they ran an Amex offer earlier this year. So I figured I’d give it a try.

I used that offer to buy Smashburger gift cards which they had listed for $92. By combining the Amex offer, a $15 off $60 new customer discount — which you can get by using my referral link or leave your own in the comments — and the 8% inherent savings of gift cards, I figure I got $100 of Smashburger gift cards for about $50. That seems pretty good to me, as we’re a fan of quick-service dining, particularly with the kids along. (You can also simply apply Promo Code KNS1E at checkout.)

$100 of burgers and fries for about $50 is not a bad deal

The gift cards arrived promptly and were packaged such that they seemed to be intended for sale at Costco — it actually said Costco on the envelope! So I’m not sure if Boxed is buying and reselling gift cards that they pick up at Costco, or if Smashburger is sending them gift cards that they packaged for Costco, but whatever. The bottom line is that I’m saving 50% at Smashburger, which is awesome.

I later placed another order for cereal and toilet paper, which is probably more of what they would like their future core business to be. That order also arrived as expected, in a big Boxed branded box.

Back in grad school, I could have subsisted for months with just this

Save $25 off $75 at Boxed with Amex offers

Boxed is back with a new Amex Offer. This time it’s good for $25 off $75 by September 30, 2017.

If you’re a new customer, you can combine that with the new customer discount and effectively replicate the deal that I described above. But even if you are a returning customer, you can still probably find some things that will save you money.

I assume that the gift cards are quite popular, as they seem to come and go in terms of availability. At the moment there are appear to be gift cards for Smashburger and P.F. Chang’s. But in the past I’ve seen some for Outback Steakhouse, SpaFinder, and MovieTickets. So if you have an eye on gift cards, I suggest checking back every few days because they do seem to come back in stock quickly.

Bottom line

My wife and I are intrigued by the Boxed concept because we’re at the point in our lives where we need to buy a lot of essentials and we don’t have a lot of time to do it.

If we could switch some of our Costco shopping to a delivery service, that would be great, even if it just cuts down the frequency of the trips. We’ve actually been using Door to Door Organics for much of our fresh produce, which displaced many of our supermarket trips, so perhaps Boxed can do the same for Costco in our life. We shall see.

And for sure, I’m happy to see them continuing to run Amex offers to grow their customer base. They definitely got me to pay attention.

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About TravisTravis has been playing in the world of miles and points for over a decade. At one time or another he has held status on just about every major domestic airline and hotel program. He has visited all 50 US states and over 50 countries. Nowadays he travels almost exclusively with his wife and three young children.

I used boxed to buy ALOT of diapers for our twins. They even have a decorating kit where we can decorate the “Boxed Box” with the kids. You can combine it with Ebates (or other portals) for an extra 2% back. Thanks for letting me post my referral link!

@Travis, I’d been meaning to try Boxed for over a year now because they carry the seasonal flavors of my favorite brand of seltzer **Polar** I was able to combine the Amex offer with an Ibotta deal (10% cash back and 12 dollar bonus for single use) and get another $20 cash back…add that to the free 2-day shipping and it was great deal. Between the lack of kiddos and my large stockpile of goods from couponing, I can’t see me using this more than a few times a year for some limited edition seltzer…but if the Amex deals hit when I need them…I will definitely take advantage.

Amazon subscriptions are awesome. I use them for staples that we go through on a predictable schedule. Generally, with the subscription discount applied, I am getting about the same price as Costco. But I don’t have to go to Costco. Instead, a big dang box of K-cups arrives at my door every month. And it’s all Prime.

If Boxed has a membership option that provides free shipping, subscriptions, and gets the price comparable to Costco or Amazon Prime, it could be valuable.

I’ve used this offer several times, and it’s great. My stuff arrives in a couple days and the prices are great even before the Amex savings. Their savings and selection on/of bottled drinks are super.

Plus, you get two free (trial sized) items to select for each order. To further maximize the bonus, I’ve split my $75 order by placing two separate orders. The Amex offer works as long as our spend a cumulative $75 across one or more orders. Boxed ships free for orders $35 or more. This way I’ve been able to order four freebies instead of just two.

I like boxed and order from them periodically, but the big problem I have with them is that their prices are laughably bad on so many items that there is no way I would even consider ordering without some combination of rebates/cash back. By the way, the same applies to Jet.

We use Boxed for toilet paper, paper towels, and non-perishables for kid’s school lunches (Honest Kids juice boxes, fruit snacks, granola bars, etc.) and have been pretty happy with the service. Of course the Amex Offers always help too!

Smash Burger gift card us around $80 at Costco. boxed is selling for $92
Fot a new customer with Amex offer $92-14= $78 is equal to costco. Best part is 25 Amex. offer
So overall good deal .
Thanks for sharing the information

I am not the average BOXED customer – I am 75 years old and have used them a few times – if you are selective they have the best price on”some”items” the problem is they have a limited a selection – the service is as good as Amazon, I have the time to “shop” – if I was younger and time and ease were important —Amazon is better but Amazon does not always have a great price

I have ordered from Boxed several times – mostly Amex offers and other discounts. We spend 4 months in Florida each winter and the best use is to order the day we leave for Florida and have our order at the door when we arrive.

Growing up we had milk, eggs, bread all delivered from the farm. These days we love Costco only a few miles away. I’ve tried to understand why I would need Costco if I can order everything and have it delivered to our door. I keep coming back to gasoline and Costco having the cheapest price in town on it. Next I asked Costco since they now deliver to homes via Google direct I believe how it works because the next obstacle is we like to select our produce type groceries visually is latest date for milk/eggs; bananas not damaged/lettuce not burnt/blueberries not mashed etc and I was told when they get an order in the people on staff are extra careful to select the best because they don’t want you to return it. So I’m down to the only reason we need to go to the physical Costco location is gasoline. But of course Costco membership remains required to get the cheapest price in town on milk/bananas/gas/eggs/etc

So bottoming I’m hoping you youngsters can tell me why I would want to not be a Costco member because I’m not seeing it. Delivery to door is nice and convenient but I still need to go for gas once a week so why at for delivery?

Love Boxed! Ok so here is how you save and stack properly. I got over $105+ for less than $25!!!!!

First, make sure you sign up using a referral link. VERY important. Here’s mine, https://www.boxed.com/invite/RDY2D , or use anyone elses, but make sure you use one!!! VERY IMPORTANT.

next, add about $105+ items to your cart (don’t worry you aren’t really completing your order yet). Go to checkout to see your total. You should see that your $15 credit has brought your price down to about $90.

Now add the following promo codes one at a time. Likely only ONE will work per order, but should stack with your existing offers.

“PEPSI” – $15 off
“JUSTFORHIM” 20%
“SUMMER20” 20%
“SEEYOUSOON” $3 off

Your total should now be down to about $75, or $76. Paying with your AMEX offer card will trigger the $25 statement credit.

BUT WAIT! Here’s how to get $25 more off!!!

use IBOTTA. on your first boxed order you’ll get $15 back, and you’ll then receive a $10 welcome bonus as well bringing your grand total down to $25. You get the $10 bonus no matter what as a new user even without a referral, but if you wanna help me out, you can use my ibotta referral (i’ll get $5, you still get $10 plus your $15, which is, https://ibotta.com/r/nlatcxq

One last note…
If you don’t wanna use ibotta for some reason (i was resistant at first to signing up for another one of those cash back things, but it was worth it!), and use have acrons, there is a 4% back by using their portal through the acorns “Found Money” offer. If you don’t have acorns but are interested, you can use my referral for a $5 sign up bonus. Here’s the link, https://acorns.com/invite/FK7RQK

I’d like to offer my *real* experience on how to maximize your discount/cash back using iBotta, Boxed, and the Amex Offer. If you like the candid explanation you read here, please feel free to use my codes below.

First, you should know iBotta will indeed work as a cash back tool, and will stack with the Amex discount. This was not a complicated process, and I was glad I did it. It took me about 3 minutes to download and register at iBotta. You can sign up for iBotta using my referral link: https://ibotta.com/r/mftubhw

I used a laptop to register for iBotta with someone else’s referral link, and once clicking the link, it provided me with a short form to fill out. It asked for my phone number to send a text to my smart phone. That’s because iBotta works on mobile devices, and the text I received prompted me to click and download the app. I signed in and selected a few offline and online stores where I may shop, including Amazon, Publix, CVS and, of course, Boxed.

The iBotta offer for Boxed was 10% cash back… but note there is a minimum of $20 in order to get “real” cash back (or get a gift card instead). I say this because it is not fair to count the rebate from iBotta as part of your savings unless you either use it again to to total the minimum OR order $200 worth in one shot. Also, very important: you must click from iBotta to make the purchase count; in other words: feel free to shop in the Boxed app as often as you please, but be sure to start from iBotta when it’s time to check out!

Once iBotta was installed, I clicked on Boxed from the “Featured Stores”. This took me to Boxed (within the iBotta app – acting as a browser). I had already set up an account on Boxed from a laptop using a referral link. If you wish, please feel free to use my referral link: https://www.boxed.com/invite/IC4DH

Using the referral link is the TRUE discount of $15, in the form of a promo code. Mine is IC4DH, as the link above suggests. However, before you use even my own discount, note there may be a better deal (more on that later). NOTE YOU CANNOT STACK PROMO CODES (other than free shipping on your first order and ONE discount code).

You should make sure your total AFTER the rebate is at least $75 and pay with the Amex card after you have added the Amex offer for boxed. So if you total $90 and get the rebate IC4DH, your total will be $75. Another code I found while downloading was APPLEPAY, which was 15% off. Since you cannot stack promo codes, my feelings will not be hurt if you use whichever promo code makes the most sense for you. For example, if you buy more than $100, then 15% off is a better deal than $15 off. Just delete my promo code and use APPLEPAY instead. (Note the promo codes seem to change frequently, so this code is valid only as of this writing.) Also, don’t forget to select two free samples and adding them to your cart.

It’s unclear if you absolutely must use ApplePay to get that discount, but I was going to pay that way anyway; just BE VERY CAREFUL in ensuring your qualifying Amex is set as your ApplePay card of choice. Once your fingerprint goes on the sensor, the purchase is made!

As this is my first experience with iBotta, I can’t speak for steps on collecting the savings, and it will take 4 days for the rebate to become available. But I can say I will use iBotta again and will eventually get money back. The best way, IMO, is to link my PayPal account so it’s real cash back.

In the end, my math looked something like this:

$110 in merchandise I absolutely needed for $68…
– Discount code of 15% off made it ~$93
– Amex Offer email confirmed I would get a $25 statement credit, for $68 of expense.

…AND I have $11 in pending credit within iBotta. Once I get to $20 in credits with Boxed or any other stores, I can then transfer that to PayPal and my own bank account.

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